The Twisted Fairy Tales of The Blitzkrieg Boys
by BlackRoseGirl666
Summary: Wherein Bryan must defend his Juliet, Tala finds his Beauty, Ian kisses a Witch and finds a Princess, Spencer helps free and then falls for a pixie, and Kai finally gets the Girl. WARNINGS: Swearing, Violence and general Blitzkrieg-ness. No OC's. No Yaoi.
1. Bryan and Mariah: Stadium Crossed Love

What happens when you're in love with your best friends' worst enemy?

Who do you pick? The friends that have been loyal and supportive of you ever since you could speak, or the boy that makes you think and behave and _experience_ on a whole new level? Is it possible to have them both?

Well, as you may have realized, these are the things that keep me from sleep at night.

And you are about to learn why.

You see, ever since just after the first World Championships I've had the smallest (well, actually it's pretty damn big) crush on Bryan of the Demolition Boys (or now known as the Blitzkrieg Boys).

The Blitzkrieg Boys and the White Tigers have had a feud between them ever since the first World Championships and I, as well as everyone else on my team, had sworn to never think kindly of one of them ever again.

Bryan Kuznetsov especially for what he did to my might-as-well-be-brother-and-at-that-point-in-time-crush, Ray Kon.

And as you also may have noticed, I Kind of broke my promise.

I really did hate him for what he did to Ray, truly, if you had asked me on whose arm I'd be on three years from then it would have been Ray's name on my lips… but, as I said, that was three years ago.

And as I also said, I broke my promise.

Things changed after the Abbey fell and some of the horror stories started to leak out, I found that I could understand why the then Demolition Boys did what they did. In all honesty, I probably would have done the same in their position.

Now, I bet you're all wondering how my understanding, my, perhaps, _sympathy,_ at the most, turned into one of the biggest, most scandalous, most carefully, _painfully_, hidden affairs in the sports world?

Don't deny it, I know you are.

Well then, I guess you're just lucky that I'm willing to talk.

It isn't hard to figure out why I started to crush on Bryan, it's really kind of easy, actually. First of all, he's one of the best looking boys in the league.

Yes, that's right. There was no moment of sudden understanding, no "connection of the souls" crap.

I was an overprotected small town girl who, growing up, had only seen the same black-haired, amber-eyed, buff-as-hell and honest-to-all men before. Of course this tall, pale, broad shouldered Russian with those steely grey eyes and soft-looking lilac hair intrigued me. The way he smirked when everyone around me always smiled drew me in further and the secretive, feral look in his eyes reminded me nothing of the wild playfulness in the eyes of my friends, he was a secret and I was curious.

I wanted to know more.

Curiosity killed the cat, I knew that, but I also knew satisfaction brought it back.

And at this point, I still had no idea he was curious about me, too.

That was how it started, I guess. The stolen glances we shared across the room, the wicked smiles he would give me that would light up his eyes, making them shine silver, and make my heart stutter.

It's hard to pinpoint when it really progressed passed that. When the smiles became words and the glances became touches. Honestly it's all just blurs into one dangerous game to me now, back when I was still telling myself I was being stupid and trying to ignore him. When I was still scared.

The fear didn't last long though, by the time we had had our first real, un-witnessed meeting it had be replaced by something else, something I couldn't put a name to yet.

I can still remember it clearly, even though it was close to three years ago. Our teams had been passing each other in the locker room hallway and Bryan had bumped into me. I hadn't even realized he'd slipped me a note until it fell out of my pocket latter that night.

It hadn't been a love note, no stupid rhymes or gushy hearts or anything like that. This is still the real world remember, people? We were still just a couple of curious kids playing with something new and fun. It wasn't real yet. And besides, it was still Bryan, a man of few words but more actions than anyone knew.

The note had simply told me that he'd pick me up at seven two weeks from tomorrow and that he hoped I liked loud music and bright lights.

See what I mean? Nothing like the fairy tails and yet… I had treasured that note more than I had anything else in my life, except for maybe my beyblade.

Of course it had also made me curious. At the time we had been on a worldwide tour battling at different charity competitions and signing autographs, we were in new city ever three or four days. I didn't really know how he could schedule something so far in the future when we were all so unsure of where we'd be heading next.

Now I know you should never underestimate a Blitzkrieg Boy.

The weeks leading up to my mystery date I had spent covertly working on my appearance and wardrobe, something I had been longing to do but too gutless to put into action.

I started by getting my nails done, nothing fancy, you can't be overly fancy when one is a beyblader, but they looked miles better then they had before.

Next was my ribbon, which I traded for a black elastic, and then finally I started cutting about 85% of the pink out of my outfits and making what was left darker.

Thinking back now I can't help but wonder why I didn't do it before, the backlash of good energy I got both from the public and my fellow bladers will never stop amazing me, but I guess I just didn't have a good enough reason before.

And then, finally, the weeks were up and I found myself in Melbourne, Australia sneaking out of my expensive five star hotel room wearing an outfit made up of so much shiny black leather and hot pink silk I never would have ever considered wearing it before my little rendezvous-es with my secret Romeo began.

I had walked out to the back of the building where another note (this one hidden in a bouquet of tiger lilies sent to me by "a fan" left outside me door) I had received earlier that day had told me where to go to find my tall brutish Russian.

And boy did I find him. He was seated casually on a pitch black Yamaha R1 motorbike, which I would latter learn to recognize as my fairytale prince's noble steed, wearing black jeans and a beaten up leather jacket over a white T, a sexy-as-hell smirk curving his pale lips.

The events that fallowed left my head spinning for days in a swirl of bright, flashing lights and loud, loud music. The scent of Bryan's worn leather jacket would cling to my nose for the next three weeks and I'd walk around with the world's goofiest grin on my face for the same amount of time. And at night, I'd gently touch my lips and let my self be hit by his searing kiss all over again.

Thinking back, I can't believe no one found out. We were so daring after that night, it only would have taken one look to long, one touch to many and our cover would have been blown wide open.

But as you can see, that didn't happen.

And that leads me to where I am now, that being New York! And as to why I'm in New York, you ask? That would be because the teams of the world have been sent here for vacation, courtesy of the BBA.

Lovely right? Seeing as a big-ass, busy-as-the-day-is-long city would be the perfect place to disappear with one's secret lover, correct?

Surprisingly, not so.

Especially when one has a group of team mates who have noticed her "depressed" behaviour and think she is in need of "team quality time" in order to cheer her up.

But, just a few hours ago something rather jaw dropping happened that threw a bit of a kink into my team's plans.

Something that made me fall flat on my ass from the treadmill I had been running on and, in a stroke of desperate genius, caused me to conveniently "twist my ankle."

Or at least that's why Ray believes I turned him down in front of the entire collection of Beybladers from nearly every team sans F Dynasty (Julia was out), a few Saint Shields members and (thankfully) the Blitzkrieg Boys.

Yeah, you heard right. It seams "Ray-Ray" has finally either figured out on his own that I am indeed a girl and that no, I am not _actually_ related to him by blood or that someone has told him so.

Of course you can imagine the lot of clapping, cat calls, woof whistles and yells that went on during this, you can also probably imagine the silence that met me after I told him no.

And you can also bet that as soon as I was a hearing distance away from the training room, I fucking kicked my ass into high gear and dialled Bryan's number A.S.A.P.

Now don't get me wrong, I do love Ray, really, I do. But I do not love him as a _**lover.**_I love Ray as an older brother, that's it. Nothing more. I am no longer the girl from three years ago who had been waiting for something like this since she had first laid eyes on the-boy-next-door.

And seriously, why the hell would I _want_ to be? I have my own life now (even though it is secret) and I have no desire to have Ray by my side as more than a friend.

And that is why I'm currently hurrying myself out of the shower and into something I find more appropriate to meet Bryan in than sweaty gym clothes.

I moved quickly as I zipped up my dark blue skinny jeans before pulling a tight-fitting black band T-shirt I had gotten with Bryan in Alberta after we saw a Simple Plan concert there during one of our many secret outings over my head.

Moving fast and bare foot I grabbed black socks, my bag (a sweet little over-the-shoulder, paten leather thing) and my hairbrush from the dresser before ducking into the bathroom and throwing my hair up into messy bun via a black banana clip and throwing on some makeup.

Leaving the bathroom I garbed my black hoody and set on my way to central park where Bryan said he meet me, making sure to keep a look out for anyone I'd know as I walked. We both agreed that it was the best place to meet seeing as barely a handful of people knew about us and the park provided the most cover, plus it was just a short walk from the hotel.

Kai, Hilary, Emily, Julia, Mathilda and the Blitzkrieg Boys. That was it. Eight people outside of us knew about our relationship and honestly, that was great by me. The less people that knew the better.

Of course the fact that they were all in not-so-public relationships of their own made things a little nicer, too.

Shaking my head at how complicated my life had gotten over the years, I quickly walked to central park to see Bryan leaning back on his precious black Yamaha. His body was casual with his whole weight resting on the bike and his black jean clad legs were crossed at the ankles.

His hands were shoved rather carelessly into the pockets of his soft black leather jacket, which had been thrown over a black muscle shirt. Black boots, much like the macho version of the ones I had on now, covered his feet and a pair of white ear buds coming up from his left jacket pocket completed his "careless bad-ass" look.

I smirked slightly.

I walked over and hugged him, feeling him tense in my arms for a moment before his own arms snaked around my waist. That small, one second tensing always made me sad, it was like he was expecting to be hit, and with his childhood, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it came from experience.

"Hey there, Kitten." he said in his smooth, still-lightly-Russian-accented voice. I sighed and rested my head on his shoulder, god how I missed this.

"I missed you," I said back, my voice muffled by the leather. I felt his smile rather than saw it.

"Glad to here it, Kitten." He smirked at me and I returned it. I loved it when he called me that, it made my heart flutter.

Breathing in deeply a took my seat on Bryan's left, leaning against the bike, and clasped his hand.

"What're we going to do, Bry?" I asked, leaning my body against his side, he let go of my hand and wrapped an arm around my waist before blowing out a sigh.

"I don't know 'Riah, but I know we'll need to do something quick. There's no way in hell I'm going to loose you." There was a growl in his voice that made me shiver in a very nice kind of way.

I laughed a little and smiled up at him; his eyes were glowing silver in the low light and his face was set in a determined mask.

"Hey, no worries," I said, pulling his chin gently towards me before pushing myself up on the bike and giving him a little kiss which he quickly took control of. I moaned a little and wound my hands in his soft lilac hair, arching my back to better meet his lip.

His hands, larger and stronger from more years of battle training with a beyblade and weapons alike than I liked to think about, easily pulled out my hair clip, letting my now waist length dark pink hair tumble down.

I grinned up at him, my breathing hard. "Do you always have to mess up my hair?" I asked, amusement clear in my voice, he smirked at me.

"But of course, love," he said, brushing a lock behind my ear with a loving look on his face.

Or at least he did before it morphed into a teasing smirk once again.

"Besides," he said, reaching down the other side of the bike and bringing up a pair of full facial black helmets, one with silver swirling designs and feathers and the other with hot pink splatters and flowers. "With your hair up like that you can't ride." He finished with a smirk.

I raised an eyebrow. This wasn't part of the plan.

I was just supposed to meet Bryan, discuss what we were going to do (which admittedly didn't last very long), come up with a plan (which didn't really happen) and then, as much as I loathed doing so, go back to the hotel and by extension my team. A nighttime bike ride was (regrettably) not on that list.

"Oh, and just were are we going?" I asked, with genuine curiosity. There weren't many places we (as world renowned bladers) could go in America with out being stalked at the best and mobbed at the worst. It came with being a big star.

"I know a place." He said nonchalantly. I kept my eyebrow raised.

Bryan sighed. "Okay, _Kai_ knows a place. Or rather, he owns the building said place is situated in. _Happy_?" He said, mimicking my raised eyebrow with his own.

I just grinned at him and slipped the helmet with the pink décor over my head before swinging my legs over the back of the bike, raising my chin at Bryan because he wouldn't be able to see a raised eyebrow or smirk through the tinted face cover.

I smiled behind my cover as Bryan snorted and jumped on, slipping on his helmet with one hand and turning the engine on with the other, his leg kicked up the bike stand before we started off.

The colours of New York whizzed by me as Bryan took off down the street, it was early still, by New York standards at least, and the streets were still busy with people and cars but it was luckily late enough that there were no major traffic jams anywhere.

I clung closer to Bryan, content to stay here in my little world with my arms around his waist and the wind in my hair, far away from all my problems.

That's one of the things I love about this city; the amazing ability it has to make all your problems go away, even if for just a few minutes.

That's actually something I love about _all_big cities, and it's also why I prefer them to the White Tiger Hills which is, literally, in the middle of nowhere China and has the irksome ability of making you focus on your problems, not forget them.

This was annoying for me because if you haven't figured it out, I liked to forget things.

* * *

><p>The rest of the ride passed the way most of our bike trips did: Bryan navigating and pointing out interesting facts about the places we were seeing through the little radios in the helmets and me clinging to him and watching the world around me in a bit of a dazed way, the only difference this time around was that the trip only lasted about fifteen minutes.<p>

After parking a block or two away we locked up the bike and then locked the helmets away under the seat before walking up to the restaurant and heading in.

The place wasn't empty but not crowded either; we were seated in the back in a half circle booth with candles on the table and a single red rose in the centre. It was one of those non-descript yet high-end places that were scattered all around the city, you know, the ones with the leather seats and glass tables and all that.

We sent the order off and got right back to our discussion about the different places we had been to before the conversation moved to Beyblading in general, and then to the latest prank Ian had pulled, and then, eventually, to how Tala wound up with pink hair for a week. A story that left me with tears of laughter in my eyes and Bryan with a victorious smirk on his face.

Of course, you now realize that _something_ had to happen at this point in time. It was just our bad luck that that something had to do with the untimely discovery of our relationship.

As it turned out, The Bladebreakers and The White Tigers had walked in sometime during our discussion, completely without our knowledge, and had been watching us in disbelieving silence right up until something tipped us off to their presence.

That something happened to be the sound of Lee's glass shattering on the black tile floor when I leaned in to peck Bryan's cheek after he finished teasing me about something I barely remember.

Bryan and I swore in Russian at the same time (he had begun teaching me the league during one of are four-hour-long talks we had one morning. He had said he was tired of his teammate's teasing me in Russian so he had to teach me the langue so I could retort back. It scared Tala shitless the first time I called him a "prissy ginger bastard" in Russian.)

I looked around and bit my lip, the only ones that didn't have their jaw on the ground were Hillary and Kai, and both of them were instead giving us sympathetic looks that I was desperately trying to ignore.

You know it's bad when Kai looks sympathetic.

"What are you doing?" It was a quiet whisper but I could hear the stirrings of anger in my brother's voice. I fought the flinch that tried to escape and narrowed my eyes.

All my life I have listen to my older brother, and all my life he has always listened to the Elders who run our village, especially with my parent's dead as they are. But I will not doing it any longer. Not so long as I have something worth fighting for.

"Well, Lee, I'm on a date." I said, keeping my voice as even as I could, my hand instinctively going for Bryan's.

"With Bryan?" Ray, of all people, stuttered.

I raised my chin, there wasn't the usual note in his voice that I got when the Elders or Lee caught me doing something "wrong," there was just shock and I guess a little hurt.

I didn't know where that was from.

"Yes, Ray." My voice was surprisingly strong. "And what's wrong with that?" I asked, I could feel Galux heating in my pocket; I guess she could feel the tension in the air as much as I could.

"It's Bryan, Mariah! There has to be something wrong!" Kevin yelled, throwing his hands in the air. I barely repressed a growl. I could see the hurt in Bryan's eye's, the guilt. It made me mad. It wasn't his fault for what happened to Ray, he already told me the whole story.

Boris had been mucking with the emotions of his "soldiers" from the very beginning; he had a sort of trigger beaten into each one. A trigger that would turn them just a feral as any animal when pulled. It just so happened that Bryan's trigger had to do with the drugs that had been injected into him just moments before the battle.

My eyes flashed, I could feel my Neko Jin blood rushing in my veins. It had been a while since I had become this upset.

"Shut up Kevin," His face flashed with shock for a second, I tired to hide my glee. "You shouldn't speak about what you know nothing about!"

"Speaking about what you don't know about! Oh please, Mariah do you know anything about him!" Lee took a challenging step foreword and I felt Bryan tense beside me, getting ready for an attack. I bit my lip harder; I couldn't let it come to that, Lee wouldn't stand a chance against a fully trained, elite Bio-Volt solider, especially one with as much raw power as Bryan.

I splayed my hand against Bryan's chest, more a move to tell him it was okay than it was to actually stop him; I wasn't strong or skilled enough for that.

Bryan didn't relax but he didn't move anymore either, I took that as a good thing.

"-So you're going to give all that up? Just to be some Russian monster's whore!" I had to put my whole body in front of Bryan to keep him from attacking Lee, though a small part of me wanted to let him attack him, but this was my fight. I wasn't going to be backing down this time.

"What the hell are you on, Lee? I'm not giving anything up! If you haven't noticed I haven't had much of a life outside of beyblade!" I felt it best not to let him know about the meetings Bryan and I had. Just because I wasn't backing down didn't mean I was going to _try_ and stir up trouble.

Lee snorted. "You've had more of a "life" than a lot of people in our village, you know that Mariah."

"Yeah, I do Lee and I've decided that I like it! I've decided that I like traveling and wearing leather and meeting people that I don't know! I've decided that I don't want to live in a village anymore!"

This was, of course, met by a decidedly shocked silence. Mariah, the only female representative of the White Tiger Village, doesn't like it in her village? The scandal!

"What. Are. You. Talking. About?" Lee ground out, his fists clenched and eyes wild with furry. Ray stood beside him, his face pale and shocked but understanding. I nodded a little to Ray and he nodded back. This was one of the things I liked about Ray that had originally led me to feel more for him than a sister should. He got stuff, and if he didn't get it, he worked at it until he did.

Unlike Lee who just blew up if he didn't understand.

"Lee, just calm down, okay? No need to cause an scène-

"Oh just shut up Ray! Honestly, you're no better than her!" Lee snapped, turning on Ray.

Ray flinched back. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"Like you don't know," Lee sneered, "that's why you abandoned the village isn't it? Not because you wanted to learn new blading styles but because you didn't want to take responsibility and fallow our customs anymore!"

"Those "customs" are sick and twisted and you know it!" Ray hissed, his eyes silted with anger and his hands fisted and shaking with rage, I could see the tips of his fangs poking over his bottom lip.

Subconsciously I took a step back, I had never seen Ray looked so furious before, not even in that Chinese back alley where we attacked him and his team. He reminded me of Bryan during the first World Championships.

Lee snarled again and launched himself at Ray, his leg kicking out and hitting Ray under the chin, his own Neko Jin blood flaring and making his well-practiced kick just that much stronger. Ray's head snapped back as he staggered away from Lee before tripping up and falling back against the wall, his face dazed and blank.

Some people screamed, mostly the other customers of the restaurant who'd been looking on curiously and snapping pictures before Lee attacked. I was frozen. My mind stuck between attacking Lee myself and checking on Ray even though the other Bladebreakers had already former a semi-circle around him. Kenny had his phone out, I supposed dialling 9-1-1.

"I can't believe I ever thought you'd be a good match for her!" Lee spat in disgust from his pace in front of Gary, restrained by the bigger teen's arms.

"A good match? What the hell are you talking about, Lee!" I shouted, by mind had snapped from its shock and anger now coursing through my veins. Bryan's arms slipped around my waist as he pulled me in close, trying to keep me from doing something I'd regret.

"He's talking about the marriage contract he and the Elders set up for us back at the Village." Ray's sluggish voice said, slipping through the loud cheers that had erupted from the other Bladebreakers when he'd regained consciousness.

It took about a second for what he'd said to register in everyone's brains.

"What!" I snapped, pushing my way past Tyson and Max before bending down in front of my best friend's bloodied form. I hid my wince well as I looked at his face. His Neko blood had calmed down while he was blacked out and his face was pale beneath his tan. Blood fell lazily from his lip and his lower jaw was slowly shifting from red to a sickly purple-blue.

Ray nodded slightly before wincing and spitting a glob of blood and saliva onto the black tiled floor of the restaurant.

"That's why I asked you out, so I could give you a warning before they tried to drag us back to the village." He said, his voice was tired and his eyes were drooping closed again.

"How do we know you weren't in on it?" Bryan asked, speaking for the first time during this whole little escapade. His voice was just as cold as the lands he'd come from, his obvious anger frozen into a calm, explosive mask.

I swallowed, knowing this was when he was at his most dangerous. I could see Ray knew it too, what with after facing him and everything.

I didn't miss how Kai repositioned himself closer to the group, or how he pushed Hilary behind him. It Bryan did lose it, Kai would be the only one who could knock him out, seeing as he was also a Bio-Volt Elite Soldier and all.

Ray cracked his eyes open and smirked a bit. "Because I've been dating Mariam Shīrudo of the Saint Shields since a few months after BEGA. Give her a call if you don't believe me." He said it with such a flippant, I-don't-give-a-fuck, careless attitude that I couldn't find a reason to doubt him and by the subtle nod Bryan directed at Kai I knew he didn't think it either.

"Fucking bastard!" Lee's roars of anger made us all turn our attention towards him.

"You're no better than my fucking slut of a sister! I'll make sure none of you ever step foot back in the White Tiger Mountains! I-"

Even though I've seen Bryan fight before (mostly in practice spares against the other Blitzkrieg Boys) I would have never, never, have guessed that someone with his build (6 foot 4 and made of solid muscle) could move so frickin _fast_.

One minute Lee had been trash talking us and struggling to get out Gary's iron hold and the next Bryan had turned, cleared the space between them and punched my brother in the face.

"Don't you ever say that about her _again_." His voice was low, calm and completely deadly. It made a shiver creep up my back and I can assure you, it was by far one of the most pleasurable feelings of my life.

Lee babbled something incoherently, blood spillage from his nose making it hard to understand him though I distinctly thought I heard something close to the Chinese words for "murderous monster," "you don't know what's coming" and "you and the bitch will pay for this" in there somewhere, though honestly I could have cared less at that point.

I cast a disgusted look at my brother. _My_ _brother_. How could I be related to that? I wondered. My mind was foggy as I watched the New York paramedics come in, the group of four men accompanied by a group of five armed policemen.

It idly occurred to me that, sometime during the point where the paramedics strapped Ray onto a stretcher and the police started taking witness accounts, someone must have rung the cops.

It was during our escape from the restaurant that I realized what the media circus for the next few months was going to look like.

And it was when Bryan wrapped his muscled arms around my shoulders and the scent of old leather washed over my nose, blocking out the flashing lights of the police cars and the shouted questions and snapped pictures of the reporters that I realized it didn't matter.

I had my friends, I had my life in my own hands and I had my Romeo at my side, protecting me from the things I couldn't fight my self. And yes it had all been at the price of my brother and my village but I couldn't care. Not when I had so much to live for, and definitely not now that I had someone to live it with.

I smiled in the leather; I guess not all star-crossed romances have to turn out tragic after all.

* * *

><p><strong>And here's the rewrite of the once titled onc-shot New Age Romeo! I hope you all liked it; I certainly do, and are waiting eagerly for the other two taken down one-shots plus the new chapters I'm going to be posting as part of this story!<strong>

**Please Review if you like! **

**Sincerely,**

**BlackRoseGirl666**


	2. Tala and Julia: The Star and The Wolf

Having a crush on a Russian heartthrob is not a bad thing in today's society. It is considered perfectly normal, actually, especially if the one doing the crushing is a sixteen-year-old girl.

It is normal for that girl to jump to his defence when someone attacks his character, it is normal for that girl to blush when asked if she likes him and reply a hurried denial, it is completely, gut wrenchingly normal for this girl to maybe find his email or write him an old fashioned letter stating how much she likes him.

All of that is normal, even the part where the world doesn't know about her crush and the guy supposedly doesn't have even a clue what her name is even thought she knows everything about him from when he was born to his favourite colour.

Utterly, completely normal and typical. Utterly me. Or at least what I'm supposed to be.

But that's not me.

And now that we get into the details, you'll be able to see where my story starts to veer away from the socially accepted 'normal' and into the 'what was she thinking?' part of life.

Firstly, I am not you're typical sixteen-year-old girl. I'm a female beyblader, one of only seven who have ever competed professionally in the history of the BBA and one of only four who still compete today. On top of that, my brother and I are the only tag-team still competing professionally in the sports world.

I'm also a member of a circus family, though I'm related to no one there other than my brother, and my temper has gotten me kicked out of more places than I can remember.

So no, I guess you could say I'm not your typical giggling, boyfriend-hunting, lipstick-wearing, cell phone-obsessed teenage female of the 21st century.

Actually, the only thing you could consider 'normal' about me would be the aforementioned crush on the aforementioned Russian heartthrob.

But, no, that's actually not right either. Though it does make sense, seeing as I'm such an odd girl, that my crush (and relationship with said crush) would be just as unique (read: scary, temperamental, _weird_) as I am.

Well, I think it does.

But anyway, I suppose I should introduce myself, hm?

All right then, I'm Julia Fernandez. Born and raised in Spain and the older twin of Raul Fernandez. I've grown up in the circus as part of a balancing clown act with my brother ever since I can remember and live to be on stage, unlike my brother.

I'm 5'6, with a good body and not scared to show it; tan skin, two-tone orange-brown hair left to grow down to my knees with messy bangs and green eyes. Not overly special but not hideous either.

I've lived most of my life being told what to do and then instructing other people below me what to do. I love being up front and centre and I never back down from a fight.

That is the 'me' everyone knows, loves, hates and expects. They don't know about the girl who snuck out a window a week and a half ago in Paris so she could meet up with her boyfriend, who she really shouldn't be seeing by the rest of the world's standards, just so they could get some time alone and avoid the press.

By the world's account I should have punched the guy, not kissed him, when I found him sitting on my open windowsill at two am but I guess I kind of missed (read: ignored) the memo on that one.

And who is the mysterious boyfriend who managed to whisk me away from my bed at such an unreasonable hour the night before a tournament?

It's my aforementioned Russian-heartthrob-crush, the same crush who, normally, wouldn't even know my name and live a billion miles away from me in California or some other warm and sandy place despite being a _Russian_ heartthrob.

But remember, we are a rather unique pair.

Though, I guess you could be one of the most bland girls imaginable and still be considered a little strange (read: deranged) in the head when you're on the arm of one Tala Ivanov.

Yeah, you got it right.

Tala Ivanov:

The captain of the feared Russian Beyblade team the Blitzkrieg Boys, one of three people to nearly bring down the star of the BBA, Tyson Granger, best friend of the multi-billionaire and beyblader extraordinaire Kai Hiwatari and general badass.

Six foot tall, lean, strong build; porcelain pale skin, unruly red hair and icy blue eyes contrasted by high cheek bones and a wicked mouth that when not curled into a snarl or a smirk is spouting acidic comments volatile enough to leave anyone hurting for weeks.

Trained as a solider for a world war that never came to pass, deadly in more places than just the beyblade arena, unpredictable and risky as anything I've ever come across.

A true, untamed beast; just like his icy she-wolf bit-beast, Wolborg.

None of that explains why I love him but that's how the world sees him. That's the slot in the world carved out for him. A slot fit for a heartless teenage soldier with powerful friends. Nothing more, nothing less. Just like how my slot's carved out for their image of me.

…

Yeah, it's easy to see how that didn't work out for us.

It didn't work because those slots didn't have room _for _us to fit in them. And people should just accept that.

But they don't so they give people like me who like to make sure everything's running properly labels like "control freak" and "super bitch" and people like Tala who don't know how to deal with other people properly tags like "anti-social" and "stuck-up" and do they say it to our faces? Ha! They'd sooner jump off a cliff.

Sigh…

But, whatever. You're not here to listen to my life story are you? You just want to know about how Tala and I got together, right? Yeah, that sounds right to me.

Well, here it goes.

Now, you have to understand, my team has never had an issue with the Blitzkrieg Boys. Never. Not once, not ever. Not when Bryan sent Ray smashing out cold and not when they got Kai to join their team. It was never our fight so it was never our problem.

That changed when the whole BEGA thing rolled around because suddenly, it was our fight and suddenly, we, as in the entire BBA, including the Blitzkrieg Boys, were fighting on roughly the same side.

Boy, wasn't that a surreal moment?

I visited him once, you know, when he was in his coma. I don't know why. Maybe I just thought that if I visited him I'd get a clue about what _I_ was supposed to do, seeing as he and his team were some of the first to act during the whole fiasco.

Nothing special happened, really. He was in a coma and it wasn't like he was just going to jump up and kiss me as soon as I entered the room or something after all, but still… I'd liked to think back then that maybe he'd heard me.

I hadn't said anything that momentous, I'd probably just said what everyone else had told him; you know the typical; "get well soon!" And "we need you" and everything else that you say to a sick person and by the end of my half an hour visit, I don't know, maybe I did feel a little better. A little more reassured that we really were battling for a reason.

But anyway, that was our first meeting. He was unconscious and I was a stuttering mess looking for something to give me strength for the training hell I would latter put myself through.

No roses, no romance, hell, not even any hate or friendship. Because like I said, we, F Dynasty that is, were _completely_ neutral in all the drama that seemed to revolve around that team.

But notice that I said 'were' instead of 'are'? Past-tense, you note, not present-tense? Yeah, that's because we, or maybe just me, can no longer be considered a neutral party in all the madness that is the Blitzkrieg Boys.

And how did this happen when you are forced to assume that, at this point, I'd only met Tala that one time while he was still in a coma?

Well, that would be because a few months latter after the fall of BEGA something straight out of some fairytale storybook happened.

I became a damsel in distress.

Or, more accurately, my brother did.

Now, before I begin my tale, I'd like to clear up a rather common misconception about my relationship with Raul. I do love my brother. Yes, I boss him around but only because that's the only way things get done and yes, I do push him during training but only so he can fight and perform better.

Raul is not a strong person. Not will wise and most certainly not physically, his talents do not lie in fighting and performing or standing up to people. They do lie in creating and making beautiful things that leave most people gasping in amazement. His skills lie in the more delicate, patience-taking things. Things that drive me crazy but are necessary to our life style.

It's Raul that sews and mends our costumes and it's Raul that repairs and adjusts our blades. I book flights and hotels and transport, I plan our attacks and our routines and set aside time for training and make sure he trains. We both make sure that our "trainer", Romero, Gods bless him, gets his lazy ass on the plane.

We are a team and we do everything as a team, that's why all BBA acquired flights make sure that wherever we're seated we're seated together.

Except for this one.

We were just coming back from a teeny tiny little charity tournament in Moscow, Russia. It had been all local teams that were seriously competing so Raul and me had just battled the only other professional team there: the Blitzkrieg Boys.

And would you believe me if I said it was all by chance that either of us teams had been there? That's why none of this made it onto any of the sports networks or gossip rags, because it wasn't supposed to have happened.

Raul and I had only been there because the circus was doing a series of shows with another, larger performance company we'd had ties to once upon a time and we'd been invited when the organizers of the tournament heard we were in town.

The Ringmaster hadn't cared whether we accepted or not because we weren't going to be traveling back to Spain with the circus. The next World Championships after the BEGA Incident (isn't it clever what politicians come up with as names for their screw ups?) was starting up a week after this little tournament so it wouldn't have made sense to head all the way back to Spain when we could just cool our heels in Russia and then head over to Japan for the start.

The Blitzkrieg Boys had only shown up because the apartment they were staying at currently (they travel too much for me to really call it _theirs_) was just a few blocks away from where the tournament was being held and they were; and I quote, "bored as hell and out of chocolate."

…

Don't even ask me. If there's one thing you'll learn while reading this story it's that the Blitz-Boys have their own special kind of crazy that no one has been able to figure out yet. I mean hell, even I'm still thrown for a loop every now and then and I'm dating one of them!

But anyway, back to the story…

We were just getting ready to board the plane to go to Japan, I remember, when one of the little attendant people came up to us and said there had been a miscalculation on the fight seating and that they had booked a few to many people for the flight.

As in six too many.

And do you want to bet who five out of those six were?

…

Yeah, you guessed it: the Blitzkrieg Boys. Kai and Ian recently re-included once again.

The poor little stewardess was practically quivering in fear when she told us.

Anyway, moving on once again.

As it turned out, because I booked a ticket for myself before I booked Raul's and Kai booked the Blitz-Boys just seconds after I booked our tickets it was only me who could get on the plane.

This worked out fine in my mind. I would go over to Japan, sign us in for the tournament thing at the BBA, and then catch a flight back to Russia and pick up Raul, who the Blitzkrieg Boys had offered to let stay at their place until I got back. It would only take one call to Mr. D so he'd know I was going to be signing the Blitz Boys in as well and we'd be golden.

Romero, our trainer, wasn't even with us seeing as he was going to Japan on a connection flight through Spain so he could spend some time with his family before the World Championships started.

So, of course, I'd assumed, my plan would work out, well, perfectly.

How dumb of me. Assuming that my brother could handle what I assumed to be one night with the Blitz-Boys. What an idiot.

As it turned out my brother must have been spending too much time with the White Tigers because he, point blank, refused. I don't know if he was scared or just being dumb but he would not stay over at their place for one night. Talk about irrational! I was so pissed but whatever. I guess it turned out to be his loss.

And that my friends, is how I wound up spending a week at the Blitzkrieg Boys' place. A place that turned out to be a luxurious penthouse apartment they'd been renting while Kai's (once-upon-a-time Voltaire's before the cops finally got him) mansion (yes, I did say mansion) on the out skirts of St. Petersburg was re-done in a less evil-psycho-esque style.

This apartment, with more rooms than an apartment had any right to and a bigger TV than I'd ever imagined outside of a movie theatre, is where I, Julia Fernandez, the completely unexpected 21st century girl, got even more messed up.

During the week I spent there (thank-you unexpected snowstorms!) I got falling-down-drunk for the first time in my life, learned how to rig a shower to spray a multitude of different hair dyes, picked my first lock, cooked something more complicated than scrambled eggs and played the wondrous, alcohol-requiring game that is 21.

Oh, and I kissed Tala Ivanov.

And God, did he kiss me right back.

Yup, on my last night there (the blizzard that had kept all the planes grounded would lift latter that night), on the balcony of the apartment at around midnight during a light snow I kissed the guy who I previously thought hated me/didn't care to know me.

I don't remember why (it was during one of those previously mentioned games of 21) but I think it might have been on a dare. Yeah, that makes sense; it would explain all the wolf whistling and the snapped photos that happened once we left the balcony (Tala's hand in my jeans's back pocket and mine in his), at least.

It doesn't really matter whatever stared it though, because whatever did start it, started something beautiful, bat-shit-on-acid crazy, but beautiful.

In our opinion at least.

Ever since then we've been inseparable. Or at least as inseparable as two secretly dating teens can be when they're supposed to be completely uncaring about each other.

Or maybe, just maybe, the whole 'secretly-dating' part of our relationship didn't work out so well for us either.

I mean, it's not like we _tried_ to get our relationship out there. Fuck, that was the absolute last thing we wanted! Do you know how many times some "reliable source" (read: paid off creeper with a PhD) has proclaimed it 'unhealthy'? I mean seriously, I get the curiosity. Neither Tala or I, as I've mentioned forty frickin times before, are what you call your average Joe and Jane, we couldn't have been with the lives we've lead, but does that give every person on the planet the right to know every single detail of our lives?

No. No it doesn't.

And then the garbage about it being 'unhealthy' and 'dangerous,' what a load of shit.

I mean, it's not perfect of course. Tala and I both have wicked tempers and neither of us handle stress very well. I can't tell you how many times I've gone home crying just to beat the shit out of my punching bag and I've come over to his place after a fight to find his hands bandaged and the walls dotted with fist-sized holes but… I know we'd never hurt each other.

And besides, why should we listen to them? It's not like the world's ever given a fuck what happened to us before, what should they now?

It's not like we listened anyway, we're happy together and no one's getting hurt. If they don't like it they can suck it.

Our weapons, when we mange to piss each other off, are words, mostly. Vicious, biting words. I only remember getting physical once and it was me who hit him.

I slapped him across the face just once, when he really got me ticked about something I can't even remember now. I felt like hell after. I missed him. I wound up coming back to his place crying like a child and apologizing. We spent the rest of the night watching old Romero zombie flicks and eating junk food.

That's what a lot of our dates are like. Horror flicks and a multitude of bad-for-us snacks. Not a dream date to most people but when you look at our lives (a traveling circus star/ star blader and a solider/star blader) and consider the hounding we get from the media and society when we go out in public it becomes simple to see how things that would be dull to normal people become cool and romantic to us.

But anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself here.

Before I started my rant on modern day media and society I was planning on telling you how exactly the beyblade community and world in general found out about our relationship.

Would you believe it if I told you that our cover got blown because of one trashy, arrogant American and my short temper?

Well, you might want to, seeing as that's how it happened.

I'm sure you all remember Michael Parker, a snappish little idiot who enjoys picking on his opponents, chasing other guy's girls (whether they're openly dating or not is beside the point) or just anything in a skirt and generally acting like a douche and making a bad name for the American people.

Anyway, Michael was being his usual horrid self and trashing all the other teams – on live TV – starting with the White Tigers ("Just a bunch of Chinese Hillbillies really, we'll get them easy") to the Bladebreakers (who once again go by that name after the BEGA Incident) to, finally, the Blitzkrieg Boys.

Or more specifically, _**my**_ Tala.

Now, over the many years I've spent as an entertainer and, more recently, as a professional blader (which I find to be _way_ more dirty and competitive than _anything_ else out there sans maybe full blown wars) I've become pretty good at blocking out harsh criticisms and idiotic remarks. You have to be to be a blader, seeing as trash talk is really as much of a sport as the actual game.

But, I dare you to turn a blind ear when some snobby, egotistical, ignorant bastard starts verbally attacking your boyfriend, who has gone through more than enough shit already, in front of fifty-million-odd national television viewers.

Now add in my temper.

Yeah, that's what I though.

It was like when Bryan punched Lee in the face when he started trashing Mariah during their little coming out thing, it's an instinctive reaction to cause him physical pain when he started ripping into Tala.

And thus, because unlike Bryan I do not have size and training on my side, I kicked Michael in the nuts.

On live, national television.

It was quiet possibly the most awkward, fuck'um relationship revelation in the last decade. Probably would have gotten most dramatic too if not for Mariah and Bryan's the week or so before.

Anyway.

It's been a while since then, nine months to be exact, and I just recently turned seventeen. Quite a bit's happened in those nine months and hell, probably longer than that when you count everything from Bryan and Mariah coming out in all their dramatics to me becoming a trapeze artist in the circus, something that I've always wanted, to Raul dropping out of the circus in exchange for collage.

I'm happy for him, honestly. He's going to a special one the focuses in art and design, and luckily it pretty flexible so he can still beyblade when he chooses.

And it's not like everything's changed, either. For one thing beyblade's still as hot as ever, and the world's still as dense as it's always been, still patting its self on the back for finding out about Bry and Riah and me and Tals I think, feh, and little do they know there still missed at least three more couples...

I snicker a little but keep applying my eye shadow. It still makes me laugh how stuck up those gossip reporters look on TV, ha! They don't even know the half of it.

But, whatever. I guess I should explain to you where I am now, shouldn't I?

Yeah, I guess I should.

Currently everyone's staying in Toronto, why? Because Mr. Dickinson has decided that this is going to be the next place for the World Championships and is giving the teams time to get used to the city before we have to start blading.

I think it's a fabulous idea personally, if only because it gives Tala and I ample opportunity to sneak away for a date, such as we are doing tonight.

And yes, it is an actual, "real" date. No monster movies or junk food here. Apparently Tala's got something special planed and has called in a favour or two in order to keep the press away, or at least that's what he said.

I can't imagine what he's got planned. Seeing as we're in Toronto, which is known to be rather chilled at the best of times this time of year, and his text read to, and I quote: "Dress in your winter best."

Sigh. Here's another thing I've learned being the girlfriend of Tala Ivanov: he loves riddles. I don't know if it has something to do with the computer hardware Boris had put in his brain when he was a kids (fucking Abbey - those scumballs better be fucking grateful their locked up otherwise they just might have had a run in with more than a few fists…) or if he's just weird like that, but if he ever has a surprise planned, you can bet your ass he'll give you a brain twisting hint or five.

Blowing out a sigh I catalogued myself in the mirror.

My hair is as long and duo-coloured as ever, with my bangs falling in my eyes and the rest falling down to my knees, but this time I've braided two pieces back as a way to keep some of it out of my face.

My make up is all bronzes and light pink lip gloss, which, as far as I can tell, looks good with the snug fitting, light blue long-sleeved turtle neck sweater I'm wearing over a little black camisole.

Tight, classic blue jeans with little rhinestone designs on the back pockets and cute brown leather ankle boots go with the sweater and a simple black pea coat with pleats at the back and my white leather purse cover the accessories portion of my outfit and a necklace given to me by Tala for my birthday not to long ago hangs around my neck.

All and all, I figure this is about as girly as I'm ever going to get outside of the circus, where all I ever wear during the shows is bright, sparkly and tight fitting.

Smiling a little into the mirror I sucked in a breath before slipping on my coat, grabbing my bag and heading out of my hotel room, the door closing behind me with a sharp click that signalled its locking.

Moving purposely through the hallways that lead to the elevator I hastily reached into my aforementioned bag and pulled out a pair of jewelled sunglasses and slipped them on before stepping into the cream-walled-and-tiled elevator and hitting the lobby button.

It was late out, around seven-ish, so I'd probably look a little strange wearing the sunglasses but other than my hair my eyes are my most recognizable feature, like with a lot of bladers in the professional ring, so it's become more of a habit than anything else to wear them when heading out into the public; if only to help preserve one's eyesight in the face of a multitude of photographers and paparazzi.

It's funny. Before I started dating Tala, Raul and me could walk around big cities like this with little to no one recognizing us, never mind the hordes of journalists we get stalking us, but now that our relationship's become public… it's like being constantly onstage at the circus but with no security personnel to keep them from invading the ring.

With a barely withheld sigh I left the lobby and walked out into the chilly Toronto night, already it was snowing a little and that made me smile. In the part of Spain Raul and I grew up in it didn't snow very often; maybe once or twice in all the time we lived there. It was a bit of a shock traveling to Russia where it was cold _all_ the time and now here in Canada where, while it wasn't quite as cold, still wasn't what I'd exactly call warm.

Rounding the corner the corner I came to a stop when I heard a couple lines of music from a song I recognized as one of my favourites.

_Know all about … About your reputation … And how it's bound to be a heartbreak situation … But I can't help it if I'm helpless…_

It was a song sung by LeAnn Rimes, not someone I usually listened to, but I couldn't help but fall in love with it, it was practicaly the theme song for Tala and me.

_Shouldn't wanna spend my time with you … That I should try to be strong … But baby you're the right kind of wrong … Yeah, baby you're the right kind of wrong …_

Cocking my head to the side I took a curious look around the street, I'd only ever heard one LeAnn Rimes song on the raidio before, and it wasn't this one.

And only one person knew I liked this song.

I thought back to the rest of my boyfriend's string of cryptic answer texts. When I'd asked him where to meet him he'd just replied with: "you'll know it when you hear it." I'd assumed he'd just give me a signal the old fashined way, via a phone call/text message, but then again this _was_ Tala…

Abbruptly the Rimes song ended and the first dregs of Simple Plan's _Jet Lag_ drifted out over the nearly deserted street.

Shaking my head bemusdly I started heading in the direction of the music, my small smile flashing into a grin when I caught sight of Tala.

He was leaning back against the hood of a parked black Jeep Commander, a cocky grin on his face as the song blaring from the speakers switched to _The Only Hope for Me is You_ by My Chemical Romace.

Grinning myself I ran up to him and tackle hugged him, smiling into the shoulder of his long-sleeved black zipup hoody.

"Hey, to you too, belleza." He whispered in my ear, making me shiver and smile even brighter. Belleza was his nickname for me, it meant beauty in Spanish. It was sweet, seeing as I'd always thought of us as similar to the story of Beauty and the Beast, like Bryan and Riah were the modern day Romeo and Julliet.

Actually, now that I think about it, I guess you could say all the Blitz Boys love stories could be realated to fairtales.

I snicker a little bit, I don't even want to know what Tala and the others would say if I brought that up.

"What are you grining about?" Tala asks, his face twsited in wary amsument, the song playing now is Iris, a Goo Goo Dolls song we danced together to at a Hiwatari Corp. function Kai dragged everyone to so he would, and I once again quoet; "kill everyone dumb enough to come neer me with a spoon."

I assure you, it was a perfectly charming bussiness party.

I grin back at him unabashedly, "nothing", a say in a completely sing-sing voice the obviously does nothing to put him at ease.

"Just wondering what this mystery date is all about," which is true, Mariah isn't the only curios one out there, you know.

Now it was his turn to smirk. "I suppose I shouldn't keep you in suspense anymore," though the sparkle in his eye says he wants to, "hop in and we drive there," he finishes, and I would say grinning like a Cheshire cat, but his smile's too wolfish for that.

Shaking my head I pop open the door (I'm no china doll, I can do it myself) and buckle myself in. He turns down the music (now on _Don't Wake Me Up_ by The Hush Sound) so we don't blow out our ear drums and the next thing I know we're whizzing down the street on our way to who knows where.

* * *

><p>An ice rink. My boyfriend of nine, wonderful months has taken me to a rented-out ice rink so we can skate together without being stalked by creepers with cameras. The lights are dimmed and there are even fairy lights sprinkled about to make it just that much more romantic.<p>

I can hear music (our music) playing softly from hidden speakers somewhere I can't see.

It so romantic I want to cry.

Or maybe that's just because, while I am a trapeze star in the circus, and a top-notch beyblader, I have never, ever skated.

Ever.

"Tala." I hiss-whisper.

He keeps grinning his annoyingly cute grin; "yes?" he replies.

"If I die-" he snorts "or break something important during this," I level him with an ineffective glare, "I blame you."

He just shakes his head and pulls me up from the bench I've been sitting on while tying up these infernal skates and wraps one of his long, strong arms around my waist from behind.

"Like I'd ever let you fall." His warm breath by my ear makes me relax against my will. _Broken_ by Seether and Amy Lee echoes like a ghost off the walls as we slowly make our way onto the ice, Tala never once letting go of me.

"Okay," he says, once we're out in the middle of the ice with me using his arms like braces. "Just use me as your guard and try to keep your weight beneath you. You're probably going to fall at least once but I'll do my best to keep you from hitting the ice." He gives me a quick, boyish grin, "I promise."

I smile back and then, we're off. Moving ever so slowly across the ice with me likely cutting off the circulation in Tala's black hoody covered arms as I do my best to stay up right.

We keep going like that for, I don't know, maybe thirty of forty minutes? Tala continuing to whisper encouragements in my ear the entire time until, eventually, I manage to find my ice-legs.

It shouldn't be too much of a surprise, really. Part of my routine at the circus is walking across a short strip of wire to get to my first platform, and I've always had great balance. It just takes a bit of time for me to get used to the slipperiness of the ice and then I can move around with just Tala's hand for support.

But of course, my fast learning is absolutely nothing compared to the little tick show he put on for me while I took a break for some hot chocolate.

The rational part of my mind tells me that it's just the sum of years of practice and dedication and maybe some help from having such close ties with his ice-element bit-beast, but another part of me I haven't seen in a long time insists it's something different.

Something magical.

The way he moves… dipping and spinning and jumping and balancing… it seems strangely fantasy-like. And in those odd moments when he glides close enough for me to catch his face… it's like someone lit candles behind his eyes, making them flicker and sparkle.

Boy, do I sound like a chick or what?

"Hey, Belleza!" I snapped my head to the front and out of my daydream for my green gaze to collide with Tala's blue one.

"Come back in here, there's something I want to give you." He says, with the same smile on his face that he's had on since he's picked me up tonight.

"Coming" I reply back, hauling myself up off the bench and carefully making my way along.

Hey, just because I'm decent on the ice doesn't mean I'm good at this yet.

He snickers a bit and easily, carelessly, glides over to the edge of the rink to meet and wrapping his arms around me once he does.

The lines of the LeAnn Rimes song start playing again. We've been here, spinning and skating, for so long that we've had time for around twenty songs to go by.

And I haven't regretted a minute of it.

I giggle a little. "Looks like we're out of time." I say, arching up to kiss him quickly as well as use him for balance.

He laughs breathily, "Yeah, I guess," he says and kisses me back, but this time not quick like mine. It's long a hot on my lips and my fingers find themselves tangled in his spiky read hair before I even realize what I'm doing.

"I love you." The words are such a quick rush they catch me by surprise.

"I always have," Tala continues, there's a red blush that matches his hair on his cheeks. "That's why I've always been so… frosty to you, I- I just didn't want to get you messed up in my life, but…" He looks down and starts chewing the hell out of his lip and I almost kiss him just to make him stop doing that and because I really, really love his lips and it would really, really _suck_ if he hurt them over something so stupid as worrying about me loving him.

Because obviously I already do.

"And, anyway, I was wondering if when we're older… would you be mine?" All form of his composer is shatter now and that's left is my Tala. My sweet, romantic, scary idiot whom I love.

"Belleza?" He asked, his voice so nervous I thought he'd go to pieces right in front of me. In his hand left was a silver engagement ring in a small blue velvet ring box.

I grinned up at him, grabbed the front of his hoody and pulled him into a searing kiss, trying to convey my answer to him via my lips.

I felt him scramble to keep from dropping the box in his shock but eventually he got his act together again and kissed me back, his arms once again where they should be, around my waist.

"So can I take that as a yes?" He asked, breathing hard and resting his forehead against mind.

I smile and nodded, "Yeah, yeah, you can."

He beamed, "Great."

And with that he took my hand in his pale one and gently slipped the band onto my finger. It was a simple, elegant white gold ring that fit my finger like a glove. The diamond, a rather nice one that fit my taste perfectly, was set in the centre of the twisted band and three tiny blue diamonds were laid on either end of the twist.

And, on the inside, was a small, cursive inscription that simply read:

Beauty and Beast – Together Forever.

I felt tears brimming as I hugged him, my feet killing me in these bloody skates listening to songs that I'd only started loving because they reminded me of my Tala.

Together forever. Yeah, that would be us.

Because we all know Beauty is nothing without her Beast.

* * *

><p><strong>It's done! Finally, this chapter has taken <em>forever<em> to finish. So sorry about the wait and also to those of you who tried to guess the themes I'm going to be using only to be wrong! (Cough - kaihil lover – cough) I didn't even know what I was going to be doing until I started writing and then I changed it half way through and, well, you get it.**

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed, Thanks for Reviews Goes To: _Ms. Controversy, kaihil lover, cOOlzanimeaDDict, MyEvilHead and Zulka!_**

**Thank-you so much! I could never do this without your Reviews! Please keep it up!**

**Sincerely,**

**BlackRoseGirl666**


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